Pinochle is a Trump style card Game, in which any one of the card suits, Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs or Spades can be named as Trump, and enable it to Override or 'Trump' any card in the remaining 3 suits. The Pinochle card deck has less cards than a regular deck of 52 cards, instead it looks like this:
A A, 10 10, K K, Q Q, J J, 9 9,
12 cards in each suit for a total of 48 You can see that the 10, is the second highest ranking card in any suit.
In Double Deck Pinochle, most of the cards are doubled:
A A A A, 10 10 10 10, K K K K, Q Q Q Q, J J J J
without the 9's, 20 cards in each suit for a total of 80 cards.
The objective in Pinochle is to reach a stated goal of points. This is accomplished in 3 stages, the Bidding, the Melding and the Hand or Trick Play.
After the 80 cards are equally distributed, the player to the dealer's left may open the Bidding by describing the number of points. he expects to earn. Other players may in their turn, advance the bidding in an auction, until 3 consecutive players have passed, at which time the final, or highest bidder may name the trump suit. All players can now display their Meld cards.
There are four kinds of melds: Trump Meld, Arounds Melds, Pinochle Melds, and Marriage Meld:
Trump Meld, consists of 1 or more sequences or Runs in the trump suit named, i.e. A 10 K Q J
Any card can be used in only one meld of each type, but it can be used in several melds of different types. Both the bidding team and the defending team must acquire a minimum 20 meld points to qualify as valid Meld.
After Melding comes Trick Play
The player who named Trump will now lead to the first trick, by playing any card he chooses. Other players must follow suit and must play a trump card if they don't have a card in the suit that was led. Players are required to beat the highest card already played on the trick when it reaches them, even if one’s partner has already beat the trick. If no trump card has been played on the trick, the highest card of the suit led wins the trick.
If a trump card has been played on the trick, the highest trump card wins the trick. If equal cards are played on the same trick, the first one played outranks the second. In Pinochle we are not allowed to 'hold up' if a lower card is led. If for example, we hold A-10-J-J-J and an opponent holds A-A-A-10-10 in the same suit. If the opponent were to play his three aces, we would follow with three Jacks, setting up our Ace and 10 for 2 tricks. If however, he led the 10 first, we have no choice but to play our Ace, thus restricting us to One trick.
One point is scored for each Ace, 10, or King in the tricks won. Adding the total of 16 Aces, 16 Tens, 16 Kings, and 2 points for the winner of the last trick makes the total Trick Count 50 points.
Either side must receive a minimum of 20 Trick Points to retain their original Meld Points.
If the bidder’s total Trick and Meld points are lower than the bid, the bid amount must be subtracted from the bidding team's score. If the bid is met, their Trick and Meld points are added to the bidder's score. In any case, the defending team retains their Meld and Trick points if they have met the minimum of 20 Meld.
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